Solitary Man

Michael Douglas' character is not a nice guy. Things are not going well for this guy at all. He's a pig. And he looks like hell, disheveled, unkempt, unshaven, and -- the worst thing -- OLD! And the best thing is that Douglas lets us see it all -- every year of wear and tear.

In short, it's one of the best performances of Michael Douglas' career.

The movie revolves entirely around Douglas' character. I often don't like movies where the main character is unlikable, but there was something about this guy, warts and all, that drew me in. His level of denial? His former success? His ability to love and behave badly simultaneously? True, the supporting cast is great. Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, the always wonderful Mary-Louise Parker. But it's also true that they don't have all that much to do. Douglas is in just about every scene. And he pulls it off.

The one iffy part? The ending. Not the very very end, which I liked, but the place Douglas' character was left. Just a bit of a surprise.

But see it for yourself. It's worth it.

Solitary Man hit home for me in a few ways. First of all, the stellar cast was in fact...stellar. Michael Douglas is in top form with a role he's familiar with on screen. Michael's character grows on us as a wise, go-get tum, never-mind-the-bollix attitude that we love to see in ourselves. Deep down however, it's apparent he's reaching for his youth. He befriends a young character (Jesse Eisenberg) advising him about college, love and zest for life, but when things begin to fall apart in his own life, he's forced himself to finally make a decision to face the challenges of his own not so youthful life. Only Michael Douglas could pull this off IMHO. He carries his character in such a way that we still care about him, even after his rather devious actions. The film really could be considered a vehicle for Michael, being in almost every scene, yet there stands Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon, Marie Louise Parker, Jesse Eisenberg, etc to support this fine film.

At 65 years old, Michael Douglas can still command the movie screen. In recent years, his choice of parts has looked somewhat desperate to me. Solitary Man got little publicity and is playing largely art houses around the country. And it is quite a film. It is very much Douglas at his aging best. His character is true to the Neil Diamond song by the same name, a version of which is sung (badly) over the opening credits.

Featuring an all-star ensemble cast, Solitary Man centers on Ben Kalmen (Douglas), a formerly rich, highly-successful "honest" New York car dealer who pulled off a Bernie Madoff-level scam, got caught, prosecuted, and lost all of his money and most of his respect in the ensuing years-long legal battle. He did avoid jail, however. The movie opens before the scandal and 6 ½ years before the current day, with the always-cocky Ben (think Tom Sanders in Disclosure) going in for his annual physical. His long-time doctor "doesn't like his EKG" and orders major diagnostic tests for him. Flash forward to now.

Ben is divorced from his wife, Nancy (Susan Sarandon in a luscious cameo); living with a rich younger woman, Jordan (Mary-Louise Parker) and her daughter, Allyson, (the very talented Imogen Poots); trying to get a new car dealership approved by the local city council; and chasing women successfully all over the Boroughs. This 60+-year-old has all the moves, and they still work on younger women. He hops from bed to bed while milking his live-in and trying to re-capture the success he exudes from every pore but without the money or the friends he once had. Ben is living a nightmare. He is trying to bury the images with meaningless sex and a carefree, live-for-the-moment attitude that is vaguely reminiscent of his roles in films like Wall Street, A Perfect Murder and Wonder Boys.

When Jordan gets ill, she commands Ben to take Allyson to her college interview at Ben's alma mater, where he has been a major donor with his name on the library and everything. Here, the film hits its stride. Ben doesn't want to be there but the memories flood back, including those of his first meeting with Nancy. He leaves Allyson to do what she wants while he befriends a young college student (played by Adventureland's Jesse Eisenberg), becoming a mentor in the process. He also gets reacquainted with his college buddy, Jimmy Merino (Danny DeVito with whom Douglas has done countless films and with whom he roomed as a young thespian), an underachieving good guy who never left the college town and who owns a small café near campus. The very best moments involve Ben and Allyson; don't miss them.

Let's just say the story evolves from here with Ben's life spiraling downhill, all of his own doing. Nothing has been the same since the day his doctor told him he might have a serious heart problem. Everything came up smelling like roses until then and it's been all smelly fertilizer since. Even his only good relationship - with his married daughter, Susan, who loves her dad, listens to his problems and helps where she can – begins to decay. Played by The Office's Jenna Fischer in a performance that was a revelation, Susan doesn't hold any grudge about the divorce or dad's highly publicized fall. But he even does her wrong.

There are several questions the audience wants answered. Can Ben be redeemed? When he hits rock bottom, will anyone be there? Will his heart give way before that? Will he commit suicide, die of natural causes, or be saved? Co-writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien direct their first major movie after having penned films like Rounders, Runaway Jury, and Ocean's Thirteen (all favorites of mine), and they do so with aplomb. This is an exceptional, if depressing, independent film that shows that Douglas can still act, entice, entertain, and engage.

"Solitary Man" clearly is one of those some will like or hate, as it's a complex character study that proves most in life will not give up their vices. As people will always be stubborn and not change their ways. The film also is made watchable by having an all star cast. Micheal Douglas shines as Ben Kalmen a 60 year old man who's complex as it's clear he's going thru a midlife crisis.

The film begins with Ben receiving some bad health news then it flashes ahead six and one half years. And it's clear that this has changed Ben's lifestyle and his personal dealings with his job and family. Ben's now divorced from his wife Nancy(Susan Sarandon)and his relationship with his daughter Susan(Jenna Fischer) is strained. Ben's only satisfaction is his romancing and dating of Jordan(Mary-Louise Parker) an elegant and sophisticated single mother who's attractive and sexy daughter Allyson(Imogen Poots)becomes a conquest of Ben's. That's right when he accompanies Allyson away on a college trip he beds this 18 year old. Also on the trip Ben parties up with a fellow campus student(Jesse Eisenberg). Clearly Ben is trying to live his teenage years all over.

Kalmen can only dream of his past success as a high rolling car magnate in which he threw away due to his crooked dealings. As his complex behavior continues his only comfort is found when he reconnects with Jimmy(Danny Devito) an old school friend who offers Ben a job at his diner. This is a way that Ben can pay off his debts. Slowly you as the viewer see it was just meant for this man to be complex as you have to pay your debts to life and society when you screw up. And clearly as proved with this film when one is in dire straits vices and rediscovering youth is a pleasure of relief. Still you accept the hard ways and see some people don't want to change their ways only you as the viewer root for redemption for complex characters like Ben Kalmen. Overall this was a complex and touching feel good performance from Michael Douglas.

This movie is unlike any you are likely to see this year or the next few years. It seems somewhat like a French or Euro remake in that the story revolves around a man who "flaunts convention" and sleeps with any young woman who pleases him, even though his family (ex-wife, adult offspring) are well aware of his bedroom adventures and taunt him about his behavior.

His current girlfriend, who apparently knows something of and tolerates his loose standards, presses him to go with her daughter to a college admission interview over a weekend out of town. When he seduces the daughter, it is a shocking turn of events that marks this film as strikingly different. When she reveals the blatant transgression, the shocks continue. (Am I in Paris here?) So much for the first third or so of the film, which really amounts to the set-up. Disaster follows Michael Douglas' character around like a bad haircut. His chance for a comeback in business, and life, is squashed by the influential relations of his now ex-girlfriend and he descends farther into a world only he would want to inhabit.

With a more traditional storyline, this is where he would either become some sort of psycho killer or pull himself up and out to rebuild his life. Nothing doing here. There is a lot more down and self degradation to follow. He's on a mission.

I was wondering what could trigger not just a moral collapse, but that of a human being who, were are told, was one day the toast of the business world in New York and made so many millions that he had a college library named after him. You see, Ben Kalman, the main character, behaves like someone with no moral backbone at all, someone who either knows no limits or is bent on self destruction.

Fearing that the audience couldn't figure this thing out for themselves, the movie serves an explanation up complete, as if Ben Kalman, victim of himself, could somehow suddenly understand why he was doing what he was doing and consider the idea of change. All too pat, and not believable to boot. We are made to, forced to, care about a deeply flawed character and given an explanation that just doesn't hold water. If he were capable of this level of creepiness, it seems very unlikely that he would have risen to such heights and been loved and adored by so many. Obviously, there must have been some deep character flaw in him all along, but we have no idea what it might have been.

Otherwise decent people do, every day, go off the deep end. Some people commit acts of unkindness, even violence, for which friends and family can never forgive. How can one bit of unfortunate news about possible health problems send a man so far away from his grounding on planet earth and cause him to ruin everything in his life? I don't know, which is one reason, although this is a startlingly original movie with good to great acting all around, that I ultimately don't care about it and wish I could forget it.

There was one truly wise scene with DeVito discussing why he never chases young women that was almost worth the price of admission.

Doug Terry